gone ♪ ♪ long time passes ♪ ♪ where have all the flowers gone ♪ hello, and welcome to the news hour. i'm jane dutton in doha. these are the top stories. seven prisoners accused of plotting the coup that led to weeks of fighting in south sudan are flown to kenya. the biggest ever corruption trial is underway in malawi. they spent millions while people struggle on $1 a day. al jazeera demands that the egyptian government releases its

journalis journalists. i'm genie mcdonald from london with all the news from europe. we begin this new hours with a dramatic development in south sudan. seven prisoners accused of leading a coup attempt, which sparked weeks of fighting, have been flown to kenya. this was a key demand of peace talks with rebels, but four remaining detainees face the prospect of trial on charges of treason. let's go to jamal who has the latest from south sudan. jamal, tell us about this prisoner release and they're in kenya now. does that mean they are free? >> reporter: well, jane, it came as a bit of a surprise, because

it has been a demand for several weeks by the rebels that the government release these prisoners. it seems that it is some sort of show of goodwill from the government by releasing them in kenya. they are essentially free men, however it seems, at least from the transfer to kenya, they're not welcome here in south sudan. however, the big shots, the heavyweights of the 11 detainees remain behind bars, and they include the former secretary-general of the governing party in south sudan, someone who was seen as one of the key figures, the key allies of the rebel leader who the justice minister said yesterday should be charged with treason. while there is some sort of goodwill gesture through the release of these 7 detainees, there's also the stick in the other hand used by the government to show that it's still very much at odds with the allies. >> jamal, give us a sense of the

situation on the ground. you spent some time in juba now. what does it look like? >> reporter: well, the country is really in a very difficult situation from a humanitarian perspective and from a political perspective. first, from the humanitarian perspective, it has led to over half a million people displaced away from their homes. many don't have homes to go back to, because when we visited their towns and cities, we found that they were all but burned to the ground. so there is a huge catastrophe here in terms of the scale of people's lives that have been destroyed. from a political perspective, while these negotiations are taking place and while we've heard about the release of the prisoners, it's important to note that not everyone with a gun is controlled by the government or by the government forces. they are those fighting based on tribal lines and those that

fight based on criminal or other incentives. that's why even though this release has taken place, many people view and we've seen fighting continuing over the past 48 hours or in the past few days since a cease-fire deal was signed a few days ago. those who are aligned to him are not 100% under the control. there needs to be more effort put in by the international community, by the regional powers to ensure that the fighting stops, because while both sides might come to an agreement at some point, that may not translate down to every single person who has a gun in their hand. >> let's talk more about that agreement. thank you for that from juba. the release of the prisoners, what sort of impact is this having on the talks, and what does it suggest about the next stage?

>> reporter: this is after a lot of international pressure and a lot of pressure on the government to make it happen. it was an important -- it is an important chapter in the cease-fire agree that was signs her last week. in that chapter these former 11 figures of salva kiir government was important to make it go ahead. while certainly it's a good step ahead, people view this cease-fire as being very fragile and volatile, and we have heard accusations from both sides of the advisers they were not respecting the cease-fire. people hope it's a step ahead, but there's not enough to make things calm down really on the ground and for the duration. >> thank you for that, hoda. perhaps the biggest corruption trial ever to take

place anywhere in the world is underway in malawi. they're accused of stealing a third of the country's budget, an estimated 550 million u.s. dollars disappeared. mike hanna reports from the capital. >> reporter: the high court is the setting for a corruption trial on an unprecedented scale. charges are being brought separately against individuals, and within two weeks it's expected that as many as ten simultaneous hearings will be under way. appearing in the dark will be some of the country's most prominent politicians and businesspeople. the prosecution will in part argue that government computers were hacked into, and sums of public money were simply transferred into private accounts. the amounts are staggering. the country's current president estimates that as much as 30% of the country's budget has been stolen over the past decade.

it was the president that ordered the investigation that led to the criminal proceedings, even though evidence indicates the widespread corruption that flourished under a previous administration did not end when she took office. she appointed a new justice minister to oversee the process, and the man she replaced was arrested this week on charges of laundering stolen money. >> i was amazed, because i never thought we could have people in our country doing that to their own country, because what i'm seeing, the whole thing is not just about theft but it was economic sabotage. >> the president, he says, made it clear that even the most powerful must face justice. >> they went further to say even if it means a member of your family, that person should be arrested. nobody, and she meant nobody should be spared.

>> reporter: a long-suffering public was skeptical when she took office with a promise of clean governance. cashgate is something by which she will stand or fall as will what has been a tarnished nation. mike hanna, al jazeera. police used rubber bullets to disburse striking mine workers in south africa. members of wine workers and construction union have been on strike for just under the a week. talks between the top three platinum producers and the union are due to end on wednesday, but both sides are deadlocked. in 2012 more than 40 mine workers were shot dead by police during protests. it's day five of the syrian peace talks and the opposition is claiming positive progress. they say the regime is now willing to discuss the substantive issues raised in geneva 1, including a transitional government. however, an aide to al assad says they haven't raised that

stage yet. >> the only thing they want is to back the government while our delegation wants to implementation this. according to the priority, which are going on, the first is to stop violence, which has now turned into huge terrorism that is raging in our country. our delegation said we don't mind really discussing the points, but we have to sort of prioritize according to the need on the ground and according to the needs of the syrian people. >> iraq's prime minister asked western powers not to arm the syrian rebels. they say it's tantamount to supporting al qaeda in iraq. we'll have more on this live from geneva later in the program. a failed assassination attempt has been made on the libyan interior minister according to state media. they reportly attacked him in

tripoli while he was driven in his car. no one was reportedly hurt. al jazeera continues to call on the egyptian government to release five of its journalists who have been held without charge. the network have held a pros conference in london with supporters, reporters, colleagues and family members of our detained team. laurence lee has that report. >> reporter: the three staff of al jazeera english have now all been held for a full month. from arabic language channels a course dents has been held six months and the cameraman 200 days. that's a lot of jail time for five people who haven't been charged with any offense. in london on wednesday was the latest attempt to get them all released. organized by al jazeera but with speakers from the bbc, sky news and the british telegraph newspaper are expressing grave

concerns and about the commitment of free press. >> for a great nation like egypt to treat people doing my job as journalists, which is an ethical, decent job which all decent societies need, egypt of all countries to treat journalists in this way is a shame on that nation. >> reporter: while this was happening in london, egypt's prosecutor general is considering peter cress a's future in egypt. they're held in prison and have little contact with the outside world. egypt's rules allow for people to be held without charge for increasingly long periods. opponents of this say it's more draconian than days of the mubarak government. while it may be the case, large sections of media and human rights organizations are general lieuly worried about what's happens in the egypt in the

moment. it's a question whether that's shared by politicians, particularly in the west. on tuesday night the british foreign office issued a statement it was concerned about the human rights around cairo and elsewhere. in diplomatic term that sort of language is really quite mild. >> particularly western countries who are in alliance with egypt are in a bind. they're in a moral bind, because they have been rather equivocal in their responses to a military coup and then a very violent crackdown against the muslim brotherhood and want supporters that followed. they have been less quick to condemn that than they have been lesser abuses by other regimes elsewhere in the middle east. >> reporter: there's an obvious point that egypt's detentions may be seen as a form of political revenge on qatar that bank rolls the journal.

al jazeera continues to insist on the objectivity of its journalists and standards, and it said interviewing the muslim brotherhood does not imply sympathy as seen by the military rule of egypt as a terrorist organization. laurence lee, al jazeera, london. let me update you on the story. peter graves featured there appeared in court in cairo on wednesday to appeal against his detenti detention. the appeal was denied. he along with four other al jazeera media network employees remain in detention without charge. coming up on "the news hour" -- >> it is american diplomacy backed by pressure that has halted the progress of iran's nuclear program. >> barack obama claims the credit for the deal with iran in his state of the union address. and that deal is already having an effect on iran. find out why turkey's prime minister is there on a two-day

visit. those details are coming up. they told me it couldn't be done. that i was a lost cause. >> the quiet story of one of this year's super bowl stars. u.s. president barack obama has outlined his priorities in his annual state of the union address. he promised a year of action focused on tackling economic inequality and improving workers' rights. on iran he promised to veto any new sanctions at risk with talks. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. >> reporter: tens of millions of americans spent their evening watching the u.s. president outline his priorities. the takil family had to wait 48 minutes to hear him address what

they care most about, their former homeland, syria. this was all he had to say. >> american diplomacy backed by the threat of force is why syria's chemical weapons are being eliminated. we will continue to work with the international community to usher in the future the syrian people deserve. a future free of dictatorship and terror. >> it's very disappointing. i feel like it's more of the same, and syrians feel as though they've been abandoned. >> reporter: the most important foreign policy issue for the u.s. president was clearly i ran. >> if john f. kennedy and ronald reagan could negotiate with the soviet union, then surely a strong and confident america can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today. >> reporter: he warned congress not to impose additional sanctions on iran while he tries to negotiate a long-term deal over its nuclear program. but it was a threat one of the

sponsors of the bill seemed to brush off. >> we don't believe there will be new sanctions while iran is in compliance, and our legislation would provide for that. >> reporter: meaning despite the applau applause, the president is likely in for a big fight with his own political party over iran. on his domestic agenda, he called for higher wages for the working poor, immigration reform, infrastructure investment and action on climate change. he's called for those things every year, and every year the congress has ignored him. once the camera lights fade from the state of the union and the politicians all head back to the chamber, it seems unlikely that most if not aum of the president's agenda will make it through congress. al jazeera, washington. in the u.s. an arctic blast of snow, sleet and ice is sweeping across the south of the country. freezing temperatures made worse by windchills for much of the east coast. states as far south as alabama,

louisiana and georgia are seeing snow. unusual weather for those parts. >> absolutely, jane. we've not seen anything like this since 1994. the best part of 20 years. in 1994 we something like this. horribly cold weather coming through, and we had the freezing rain, which caused problems. this isn't quite as bad, jane, but it's bad enough. a real dig of cold air. >> why is this happening? >> what's happening is you have this cold air just making its way out of canada, an arctic blast. we've been talking about the jet stream recently, and it's dug its way a long way further south than we normally expect to see. the flipside of the coin, jane, is places like alaska seeing mild air. we saw the temperature in alaska on monday afternoon getting up to 16 degrees celsius, so a january high there. that's a new record there for january for alaska. >> this cold snap, when does it end? >> it's in the process of easing

now. the worst of the conditions have made their way across the east coast. they start with temperatures edging up over the next couple of days. i'm hopeful around friday we will start to see our temperatures picking up once again and we see in the south those temperatures back up around 10 or 11 degrees celsius. >> i believe it's quite chilly in london, too. let's go over there. i am del walters in new york city. we're going to take over coverage now because we want to take you to maryland where president obama is now taking his state of the union address on the road. let's listen in. >> help that progress or hinder that progress. whether they're going to waste time creating new crises for people and new uncertaintiy lik the shutdown, or will we spend time creating new jobs and new opportunities? i know what i'm choosing to do, because it's what you do. i'm choosing this to be a year

of action. too many americans are working harder than ever just to get by, much less get ahead. the recession is real, and the middle class has taken it on the chin since before the recession. the economy has been growing for four years now. corporate profits, stock prices have all soared, but the wages and incomes of ordinary people haven't gone up in over a decade. so that's why last night i laid out some steps that we can take, concrete, common sense proposals to speed up economic growth, strengthen the middle class, build new ladders of opportunities into the middle class. this opportunity agenda has four parts. number one, we need more new jobs. number two, we need to train more americans with the jobs -- with the skills they need to fill those jobs. number three, we should guarantee every child access to

a world class education. and number four, let's make sure hard work pays off. some of my ideas i'll need congress on, but america can't just stand still if congress isn't doing anything. i'm not going to stand still either. wherever i can take steps to expand opportunity for more families, i'm going to do it with or without congress. the defining project of our time, of our generation is to restore opportunity for everybody. so i'm here at costco today to talk about the fourth part of the opportunity agenda, and that is making hard work pay off for every single american. five years ago i signed my first bill into law.

i didn't have any gray hair. and you think it's distinguished? okay. that's the guy with the great beard saying that. so this first bill that i signed was called the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. lilly was at my speech last night, and it's a law to help protect a woman's right to fair pay, but at a time when women make about -- make up about half of the work force but still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, we have to finish the job and give women the tools they need to fight for equal pay. women deserve equal pay for equal work. they deserve -- if they're having a baby, they shouldn't have to sacrifice their job. a mom deserves a day off to care for a sick child or parent.

a father does, too. as i said last night, we have to get rid of some of these workplace policies that belong in a "mad men" episode back in the '50s. we have to give every woman the tupt she deserves, because when women succeeds, america succeeds. now, women happen to hold a majority of lower wage jobs in america. they're not the only ones who are stifled when wages aren't going up. you know, as americans we understand some people are going to earn more than other people. we don't resent those who because they work hard, because they come up with a new idea, they achieve incredible success. you know, we want our kids to be successful. it's funny, michelle and i sometimes talk. michelle's dad was a blue collar

worker, her mom was a secretary. i was raised by a single mom. we didn't go around when we were growing up being jealous about folks that made a lot of money. as long as -- if we were working hard, we could have enough. so americans overwhelmingly agree nobody who works full-time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. that is why i firmly believe it's time to give america a raise. 100 years ago henry ford started ford motor company, model t. you remember all that. henry ford realized he could sell more cars if his workers made enough money to buy the

cars. he started this factories of mass production and all of that, but then he realized, you know, if my workers aren't getting paid, they won't be able to buy cars. then i can't make a profit and reinvest to hire more workers. but if i pay my workers a good wage, they can buy my product. i make more cars, and ultimately i'll make more money. they've got more money in their pockets. so it's a win-win for everybody. and leaders today, business leaders today, some of them understand this same concept. costco's ceo, he understands this. he feels the same way. he knows that costco is going to do better, all our businesses do better when customers have more money to spend. listen, craig is a wonderful guy, but he's not in this for

philanthropy. he's a businessman that's looking at the bottom line, but he sees if he's doing right by costco workers, they can buy that 80-inch tv, too, right? profitable corporations like costco see higher wages as a smart way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. so entry level employees here, stock associates, cashiers start at $11.50 an hour. they start at $11.50 an hour. thank you, thank you. the average hourly wage is more than $20, not including overtime or benefits. costco's commitment to fairness doesn't stop at the checkout counter. it extends down the supply chain including to many of the farm

workers who grow the produce that you sell. now, what this means is that costco has some of the lowest employee turnover in your industry. so you're not constantly retraining folks because they quit. you got people like teresa who has been here 27 years because it's a company that is looking out for their workers. i have to tell you, when i walk around just -- i had a little tour of the produce section, the bakery, you can just tell people feel good about their job and they feel good about the company. you have a good atmosphere, and you know, the managers and people all take pride in what you do. now, folks who work at costco

understand that. there are a lot of americans who don't work somewhere like costco. they're working for wages that don't go as far as they once did. today the minimum wage, the federal minimum wage doesn't even go as far as it did back in the 1950s. as the cost of living goes up, the value of the minimum wage goes down over time. just last year alone workers earning the minimum wage basically got the equivalent of a $200 pay cut because the minimum wage stayed the same but costs are going up. i don't need to tell you this. you go shopping. you're like, uh-huh. for a typical minimum wage worker, that's a month's worth of groceries and two months of electricity. it's a big deal to a lot of

families. i brought a guy here today who knows about this, tom perez is the secretary of labor, and he works for working families every day. i spoke to governor o'malley that came here from maryland. when he was governor o'malley's secretary in maryland he helped to implement the first statewide living wage law. that helped a lot of maryland families. but there are more families in maryland and across the country who put in long days and have hard jobs and they deserve higher wages. in the years since i first asked congress to raise the federal minimum wage, five states have already passed laws to raise theirs. governor o'malley is trying to do it in maryland and lift the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. he says, we all do better when

we're all doing better. he's right. prince gorges county, montgomery county are banning together with d.c. to raise the regional minimum wage, and i'm here to support your efforts. i'm here to support your efforts. as i said last night to every governor, mayor, state legislator out there, if you want to take the initiative to raise your minimum wage laws to help more hard-working americans make ends meet, then i'm going to be right there at your side. while congress decides whether it's going to raise the minimum wage owner, people outside of washington are not waiting for congress, and i'm not either. so as a chief executive, i'm going to lead by example. in the coming weeks i will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally funded employees on new contracts a fair wage of $10.10 an hour.

if you cook our troops' meals and wash dishes, you shouldn't live in poverty. they're steps businesses take on their own. there's steps that certain states and counties and cities are taking on their own. there's steps i'm going to take as president, but ultimately congress does have to do its part to catch up to the rest of the country on this. there's a reason why a wide majority of americans support increasing the minimum wage. look, most americans who work make more than the minimum wage. it's interesting that the overwhelming number of americans support raising the minimum wage. it's not that it's going to necessarily affect them personally right now, but it's that they know and they understand the value behind the minimum wage. if you work hard you should be

able to pay your rent, buy your groceries, look after your kids. if you put in a hard day's work, you deserve decent pay for it. that's a principle everybody understands and believes. right now in congress there's a bill to lift the federal minimum wage to $10.10. 1010. 1010. that's easy. it will give more businesses more customers with more money to spend. i guarantee you if workers have a little more money in their pocket, they'll spend more at costco. if costco's seeing more customers, they'll hire some more folks. everybody does better. the thing about it is raising the minimum wage doesn't require new spending by the federal government. it doesn't require a big bureaucratic program. it would help a lot of americans

make ends meet. so i need everybody here and everybody watching, tell congress to make this happen. give america a raise. making work pay means doing more to help americans all across this country, but it also means improving the economy because one of the things that's been holding our economy back is wages and incomes being flat means consumers aren't spending as much which means businesses don't have as many customers which means they don't hire as much and invest as much. we don't get that lift-off on the economy that we could. if we want to make work pay well, we have to help americans save for retirement, and i am flying to pittsburgh this afternoon to talk about that. making work pay means access to health care that's there when you get sick, and the affordable

care act means nobody can ever be dropped or denied coverage for a pre-existing condition like asthma or cancer. you can't be charged more if you're a woman. you can't be charged just because your job makes your back hurt sometimes. those days are over. more americans are signing up for new, private health insurance plans every day. already 3 million people have signed up. so if you know somebody who isn't covered, who doesn't have health insurance, call them up and sit them down. help them get covered at healthcare.gov by march 31st. so this is the opportunity agenda that i'm going to be talking about this year. i don't know -- i hope congress will be talking about it, too. i'm not going to wait. we've got to restore some economic security in a 21st century economy, and that means jobs that are more plentiful, skills more employable, savings that are more portable, health care that's yours and can't be

canceled if you get sick. i just focused on one piece of that opportunity agenda today. raising the minimum wage. these are all real, practical, achievable solutions that can help shift the odds back in favor of working and middle class americans who haven't been seeing some of the benefits of growth that we've seen over the last four years. before i grab a 10-pound barrel of pretzels and 500 golf balls, let me just leave you with something i heard from costco's founder, jim senegal, who has been a great friend of mine and somebody who i greatly admire. jim's rightly proud of everything he's accomplished, but he said, here's the thing about the costco store. we did not build our company in a vacuum. we built it in the greatest country on earth. we built our company in a place where anyone can make it with hard work, a little luck, and a

little help from their neighbors and their country. that's what jim said. a place where anyone can make it. that's who we are. that's our story. if we pull together, work together, put our shoulder to the wheel, keep moving forward, that's going to be our future as well and the future for our kids and grandkids. thanks so much, everybody. god bless you, and god bless america. >> you're listening to president obama right now addressing the crowd at a costco in maryland. they're know for sizable items at low cost. it's also a membership club. they make most of the money from members that join costco and they get the deep discounts. the president pointing to the minimum wage at costco for workers going into the work force there. $11.50. he says the average, though, is $20 an hour is what they make. the president actually carrying

now forward his message that he put forth yesterday in the state of the union address in which he said that 2014 was his year of action. a year in which if congress didn't get things done, he was going to use executive orders to get them done himself. this is the first of two stops the president will make today, the second is pittsburgh, pennsylvania. as always our own mike viqueira is in maryland. the president says he's going to hit the road and change minds one person at a time. >> reporter: well, you know, it really is a campaign, and certainly this has all the trappings of a campaign event right down to the bruce springsteen blasting from the speakers as president obama works the rope line here at this lanham, maryland costco. 500 golf balls the president says he's about to go buy. before that, making a pitch to raise the minimum wage to $10.10

a centerpiece of last night's state of the union address. that, of course, is what the president is doing. campaigning for the legislative agenda that he put forward in that address. some of the things that he put forward to specifically address the imbalance, the inequities between rich and poor, the income distribution in this country. he will be in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, as he said after this. he's flying there to talk about another aspect of that agenda, of course, del, and that's so-called starter savings accounts. half of all americans tonight have savings account and trying to encourage them to save that way and rebalance the income maldistribution. could be a break-through year for america the president says. there's always a caveat of that when this white house. there's many false starts from recovery. some were back in 2009. this did not turn out to be a

full-on recovery. the economy is sputtering along. the unemployment rate is still sinks, but there are caveats on that as well. del, on this i cparticular issu it doesn't look like movement in the house of representatives in particular. republicans dead-set against raising the minimum wage on the federal level and would rather leave it to the states. that will not stop the president from pushing his agenda both here today, and tomorrow he travels to wisconsin and nashville, tennessee. >> mike, i must admit you sound very good with bruce springsteen playing in the background, but i can already hear -- >> reporter: i've been a fan for a long time. >> the republicans lining up saying that the battle lines for the 2014 midterms have now been drawn, and that they are being drawn along the lines of class warfare. that's a familiar theme. democrats say give them more,

and the republicans saying let the free market take its course. >> reporter: it's a familiar theme, and it's a theme that republicans think is not a win earnestly for democrats. it's ground they're not happy to fight on but they're comfortable fighting on it. the president is leaving his rope line making his way to the airport to head to pittsburgh. what the president last night -- sure, he talked about going around congress and using executive orders. he, once again, made a reference to the fact that yesterday he was going to sign an executive order bypassing congress to raise the minimum wage for those who work on a contract basis with the federal government. we said it before and say it again. that is a very small universe of individuals. it won't happen until next year and is only for new contracts. to do anything real significant on many agenda items, the president is going to need congress. it's really a very limited agenda when you look at it realistically, del, as you point

out. we head into the election year. immigration reform is going to be the top item on the agenda. there's no way around that proposition. certainly now republicans including in the official response last night from president obama and leaving the door open to that. the president is pushing the minimum wage hike and an extension of long-term unemployment benefits that expired at the end of the last year. the prospects for those in the house of representatives haven't changed much. immigration may be the one bright spot that the president and congress will be able to work together on. >> mike, as you mentioned, the republicans already lining up on this particular issue opposing everything he wants to do. i'm wondering how it plays to his democratic base. i saw o'malley there, so was the base fired up with what appeared

to be a stump speech rather than a state union speech? >> reporter: every state of the union is like that, del. the president has to do things to fireup and energize his core supporters and there's no bigger stage than the nationwide audience. 30 million watched it on tv not accounting for the other millions that get their news in other ways now. the president has to touch those issues, and democrats are eating it up. they love the idea of going around congress to the extent that it's possible to do legally. again, it's very limited. you brought up the fact that we're here in maryland. martin o'malley is the democratic governor who many believe it be a candidate for the office. president obama trying to push a rise in the minimum wage through the legislature right now. you heard the president laud their records on paying a good

page. he said many start in the 11 to 12 dollar range, and the average wage is $20 an hour. costco's top executives have been political supporters of president obama to a very significant degree. so a number of factors coming together here. the president continuing on these themes that he struck in the state of the union last night. this is something a president -- this is something president obama has done hitting the road after the state of the union trying to press their advantage. in this particular case on this particular issue, not sure it will make a whole lot of difference for turn votes in congress. >> mike, hold on. we're going to take a break and reset the clock and go back 12 hours and take a look at the state of the union address. a very important address for those here at al jazeera america. it was our first. we'll be right back.

welcome back. i'm del walters in new york. this is the continuing coverage of the president's state of the union address last night. it's now been 12 hours. the president just moments ago taking the show on the road to lanham, maryland where he was at a costco store. he said that the average worker there makes $20 an hour. they begin at $11.50 an hour. mcviqueira is in maryland right now. you were there, the first state of the union address covered by al jazeera america. quite a moment for the network. >> reporter: it was quite a moment for the network, and i was glad to be part of it, del. the speech, people saw it as confrontational. i didn't necessarily think of it that way. you look at a second term white house, there's a diminishing

window to get anything down. you look at president george w. bush, the last few years of his administration, but the only big significant piece of legislation he signed was the t.a.r.p. bailout, and that wasn't popular. he won't hang his hat on it. the president is working hard. he didn't touch on the one issue we're talking about here, immigration. that's the big issue that really stands a chance of passing congress. he didn't hit them hard on that because there is an opening there, and that is an area where he can work with congress and doesn't have to go around congress. obviously, his options are going to be limited there. you know, there was a laundry list element to it. the president kept a foreign policy towards the end. he didn't break any new ground there. once again, vowing to veto any sanctions bill that comes out of of congress against iran, at least while those negotiations are ongoing. del, yes. >> we have about a minute left in our coverage, but one of the things i wanted to show the

audience was that moment last night that everybody is talking about. that being the standing ovation for sergeant first class cory remsburg wounded in afghanistan in 2010. take a look, and we'll talk about it on the backside. [ applause ] >> mike, ut the truth of the matter is these speeches aren't remembered for anything the president says. most are forgotten long after the speech is over or shortly after. in this case that was one moment that no one will be able to forget. >> reporter: it was an indelible moment and poignant moment. that's a take away. the words and rhetoric that come out of any political speech, including a state of the union. sometimes what you remember is so unexpected, and just

sergeant -- the sergeant's presence there, having been so grievously wounded by a roadside bomb in kandahar, afghanistan. the site of such intense action. the site of so many american casualties, aulied and afghan casualties. here's an individual there with his brother who is a caretaker who was in a coma for an extended period of time. obviously, had very grievous injuries sitting next to the first lady. everyone was moved. >> mike, i'll let you get back to the president, because i know you're making your way to pittsburgh. mike viqueira in maryland. the president appeared at a costco store there. he's putting his show on the road. the state of the union address he began last night by saying 2014 is a year of action. the president pointing to the wage at costco, $11.50 is the starting wage. the average wage, though, is $20 an hour. some will call it a class warfare argument. the democrats are on the other hand arguing they're feeding

their base. the other top story -- in pakistan, the second largest forest of jup juniper trees is slowly being destroyed. we report from the province. >> reporter: a meal on an open fire looks ordinary, but this one isn't. he's used juniper wood to survive. it's a kind of slow high growing

tree that rises about 1 foot every year. he would be happy to use another source of energy if he had an alternative. >> translator: there is no electricity or gas here. we have no choice. it snows every other day. you can see it's very cold. we need to cut down the trees to survive. >> reporter: this primitive forest is the secondest largest juniper eco-system in the world. it's declared a beyo sphere reserves. they say it requires a mix of technical, social and economic solutions. smt trees are more than 2500 years old. their survival is at stake due to illegal logging and rapid population growth. but cutting down trees isn't just for survival. this forest spans more than 90,000 hectares and all of it is in government land. they're chopping down trees to grow profitable

>> translator: landowners are cutting down trees. another reason is livelihood and the last reason is cattle. they trample them and they can't take root. >> reporter: these are the 30 trees they caught the night before, but they couldn't catch the culprits. each ring represents one year, so you can imagine how old is each one of these tries. the forest department says it lacks funds, equipment, manpower and training to stop illegal logging. >> translator: when it snows, people start cutting trees. that's when our rangers are also alert. but we have very limited resources to keep check on this vast area. >> reporter: the people of this area have no other option but to depend on farming and agriculture, and the government admits there's a lack of awareness. there's some small scale projects, and the government is

pleading for help from donors. corruption and lack of committed staff is also contributing to deforestation. sal light images reveal almost 10,000 hectares of the juniper forest have been lost. environmentalists say unless urgent steps are taken, this forest will be no more. time for sports news with jo. lots of football news come up? >> manchester city goes to top of the english premier league. a win for city takes them a point clear of arsenal. their manager believes at least seven teams still have the chance to win the title. >> they continue with chances and liverpool continues with chances. you never know. we have to play 38 points more. >> with four games in total coming up, they both need points

in the two-point relegation while chelsea is current on points with arsenal. chelsea managers are already in a party mood. >> i think we have to drink champagne because we are improving. i think we are improving a lot. the team, the players, so the perspectives of champagne are good. >> they're both in spanish cup action later on while real madrid has their place in the finals. they doubled that advantage in just over three minutes. there's the only goal against with real winning 2-0 on saturday. nfl legend peyton manning is just about making him heard about all the talk of bad weather ahead of sunday's super

bowl. the broncos quarterback is looking to cap a record-breaking season by winning the game's top prize. the weather was too cold for the pregame media day to take place outside in the new jersey arena where the broncos will take on the seattle seahawks. at 37 manning has what could be a final chance to win a second super bowl. >> it's been exciting because whatever we've accomplished in the games, it hasn't just been about accomplishing an offensive, you know, record or whatnot. it's been a big part of why we won some games. so from that standpoint, it's been rewarding for all of the offensive players. >> it will be great to get peyton. it's a guy that i have so much respect for in all the amazing things he's done over his career. he's built this legacy and one of the best if not the best to ever play the game. >> one man getting a lot of attention in the buildup to the

big game is seattle seahawks fullback derek coleman. he's a legally deaf player in the nfl. he wears two hearing aids, but his coach said his hearing impairment never impaired his play or pitch. they teamed up for a battery maker recently, and it's already had 12 million hits on youtube. >> they didn't call my name and told me it was over. i've been deaf since i was 3, so i didn't listen. i can hear the quarterback when they saish addition i can hear him. when there's a lot of background noise, that's what the hearing aid is for. it amplifies the microphone for everything. that's when i go into my lip reader phase. i let the quarterback know to look at me whenever he's saying something important or if he turns around in the middle of the huddle.

>> he's a terrific football player. he's very well-rounded. he can play special teams, and he started for us at games as fullback. he's very consistent and tough. he has a hearing issue. that has never been a factor, and he's demonstrated to anybody that wants to listen or watch, that you can do whatever you want to do. some of the best golfers in the world are in dubai for this week's desert classic. among them is tiger woods and rory mcilroy, who is currently sixth. he won his maiden title at this tournament in 2009. >> it's great to be back in dubai, especially on the 25th n anniversary and all the past champions are back. i missed last year, so it's good to be back. it's a place i have fond memories of. good to be back. looks like a good week. >> i definitely feel fit. there's no doubt about that. my game certainly was not as

sharp as i would have liked last week. i was just a fraction off, and a fraction off on the golf course set up that hard. you know, it -- it bit a lot of us, and unfortunately it bit me pretty hard. formula one is being urged to scrap plans toward double points for the final race of the season. they all face a fan backlash. mercedes director toto wolf said 99% of team supporters think it's a wrong move. the rule that would come in effect has been slammed by sebastien budle. mcclarion and button puts their car through the paces. red bull and ferrari fine tune the cars. they have a special message to former driver michael schumacher, the seven-time world champion remains in a medically induced coma after a skiing accident.

the l.a. lakers think kobe bryant will be sidelined with a knee injury. it rules him out for the all-star game. it's a blow for the team struggling this season without their star player. they went down to the indiana pacers 104-92 on tuesday. david west scored 19 points and 8 rebounds to help the pacers to the win. one man who will make his appearance for the ninth time in the all-star game is the new york knicks carmelo anthony. he lived up to the billing on tuesday as they faced the boston celtics. he had 24 points and 9 rebounds in 28 minutes. the knicks won 114-88 for their third straight victory. that is all the sports for now. jane. >> thanks for that. we have another full bulletin of news in the next couple of minutes. i'll see you then. in the meantime you can logon to our website, aljazeera.com, 24 hours a day. thanks for watching.

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next time on the stream. >> in the last five years 80,000 refugees came to the us from myanmar. why the number is so large and how they're impacting local communities. the congress to hopefully shed line on immigration reform as a path to citizenship. for the center of american progress, he's in washington d.c. this morning. and good morning, mr. fietz. >> good morning, del. >> are you confident that this year immigration reform passes and are you sure why it pass it's. >> i'm confident that the president will be talking about the importance of find of bipartisan agreement with this congress, and this is obviously the issue that seems more teed up to have the senate has passed a bill by a bipartisan super majority and now it's up to the house to pass it. and we know that the pass republican conference is meeting

in a retreat this week, and one of the things they will be discussing is how to move forward on immigration reform. >> welcome to al jazeera america. these are the stories we are following for you. president obama taking his state of the union address to the road, first stop costco. both sides on syrian peace talks agreeing to work on the same page. and in atlanta caught offguard by a blast of where the that left hundreds stuck or stranded for hours. >>